Late onsets of tropical cyclones in the decaying years of super El Niño events

The 2015/2016 El Nino event reached the threshold of super El Nino event,and was comparable to the super events in 1982/1983 and 1997/1998.Interestingly,the tropical cyclones(TCs)were found to have very late onsets in the decaying years of the super El Nino events.This study discusses the causes of late TC onsets related with atmospheric circulation,disturbance sources and trigger mechanisms.The analysis shows that the western North Pacific subtropical high(WNPSH)from January–June during the decaying years of the super El Nino events were stronger than the climatic mean,which resulted in a relatively stable atmospheric state by inhibiting deep convection.As a disturbance source,the April–June intertropical convergence zone(ITCZ)during the decaying years of the super El Nino events were significantly weaker than its climatic mean.The cross-equatorial flow and monsoon trough,as important TC generation triggers,were weaker from April–June during the decaying years of the super El Nino events,which further reduced the probability of TC generation.As for the late TC onsets,the role of atmospheric circulation anomalies(i.e.,subtropical-high,the ITCZ,cross-equatorial flow,and monsoon trough)were more important.The cross-equatorial flow may take as predictor of TC onsets in the decaying years of the super El Nino events.

A Disturbance Source Location Method on the Low Frequency Oscillation With Time-varying Steady-state Points

The low frequency oscillation is a serious threat to security and stability of a power grid.How to locate the disturbance source accurately is an important issue to low frequency oscillation disposal.Existing methods have poor adaptability to the low frequency oscillation with time-varying steady-state points because of the limitations in the location criterion derivation.A disturbance source location method on a low frequency oscillation with good generality is presented in the paper.Firstly,the reasons why the steady-state points are time-varying on a low frequency oscillation are analyzed.Then,based on the energy function construction form,the branch transmission energy is decomposed into state energy,reciprocating energy and dissipation energy by mathematical derivation.The flow direction of the dissipation energy shows the source and destination of the disturbance energy,and the specific location of a disturbance source can be identified according to its flow direction.Meanwhile,to meet the needs of energy calculation,a recognition method on the electrical quantities steady-state points is also presented by using the cubic spline interpolation.Simulation results show the correctness of the derivation and analysis on energy structure in the paper,and the disturbance source can be located accurately according to the dissipation energy.

Effect of Disturbances on the Operation Process of a Methane-Fueled Free-Piston Engine Generator

In this paper,the effect of disturbances on the operation process of a methane-fueled free-piston engine generator(FPEG)was experimentally investigated.Four disturbance sources,namely step change of external load,mixture flow rate fluctuation,random misfire of a cylinder,and elastic collision,were identified and applied to the FPEG.The results showed that the FPEG successfully achieved a steady-state operation with load.The maximum instantaneous electric power of 127 W and the average effective electric power of 38.9 W were obtained.When an external load was instantaneously disconnected,the engine frequency increased from 26.7 Hz to 31.3 Hz.The fluctuation amplitudes of induced voltage,pressure and compression ratio were 18.9%,24.7%and 52.2%respectively in the disturbance.By contrast,when the external load was instantaneously connected,the corresponding values were 42.2%,31.3%and 64.3%respectively,indicating that the instantaneous external load connection had a greater disturbance impact on the FPEG operation stability.Despite encountering the step change of external load,the FPEG can still restore stable operation and show good anti-disturbance ability.Compared with increasing mixture flow rate,reducing the mixture flow rate has a greater disturbance impact on the engine operation stability.Although random misfire of a cylinder will cause remarkable fluctuations in piston displacement and cylinder pressure,the FPEG will not stop running,but continues to work as a single-piston engine.Minor collision event may adversely affect the stability of engine operation,but will not lead to the FPEG shutdown.However,serious collision event may lead to ignition failure and shutdown accident.